Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/95

 dissolved by slow degrees (ib. 440), the news from England after the defeats of the Scots at Preston (17 Aug. 1648), Wigan, and Warrington, became worse and worse. Though in his later years little piety was observable in Charles towards the memory of his father, no effort was spared by him to avert the catastrophe of January 1649; he induced the States-General to attempt intercession; he appealed to Fairfax and the council of war, who laid his letter aside (, vi. 211–13, 227–9); it is even supposed that he forwarded to the parliament a blank sheet, with his signature, in which they were to insert the terms on which they could 'save his father's head' (, i. 37–41 n.) But all was of no avail, and Charles I was beheaded on 30 Jan. 1648–9. In Edinburgh Charles II was proclaimed king on 5 Feb. 1648–9, and public opinion in Scotland was with him. The commissioners of the Scottish parliament appear to have reached Holland towards the end of March, but it was not till just a year later that they were admitted to an interview with Charles (, 13). He was likewise proclaimed by Ormonde in the parts of Ireland under his control, by the Scots in Ulster, and in Guernsey. In England he was only proclaimed in one or two places, but assurances of sympathy as well as pecuniary support were received by him from Lincolnshire and the west. Nor were his relations with foreign powers altogether unpromising. France at least maintained no diplomatic intercourse with the Commonwealth government, and the States-General were at first disposed to be friendly towards the guest and kinsman of the house of Orange (, iii. 4, 30). The young queen Christina of Sweden was likewise friendly (Cal. 1649, preface). It was not till some months after his mother had urged him to return to France that Charles found his way to St. Germain (, iii. 3, 60, 63;, vi. 307 et seqq.) His own inclinations lay, not towards Scotland and the covenant, but rather towards Ireland; this design, however, collapsed for want of money even before Cromwell's arrival in Ireland. From France, where as usual he felt ill at ease, Charles in September 1649 crossed to Jersey, whence 31 Oct. he issued a declaration asserting his rights. But the presence of the parliamentary fleet at Portsmouth caused him to set sail again 13 Feb. 1650, and once more to take refuge in the United Netherlands at Breda. Here he now felt obliged to listen to the Scotch parliamentary commissioners, who were all along supported by Hamilton and Lauderdale. Meanwhile Montrose, who had pressed upon Charles a scheme of his own, set up the royal standard in Scotland (January). A curious picture of the needy and frivolous but agreeable prince in this period of suspense remains from the hand of the Princess Sophia, whose mother the queen of Bohemia, then resident at the Hague, wished to marry her to her cousin while the Dowager Princess of Orange meant to secure him for one of her own daughters, and favoured the presbyterian offers (, 41–2; cf. Lord Byron to Ormonde in Ormonde Papers, and Cal. 1650, 85, and 1651–2, 135). Before the news of Montrose's overthrow reached Charles he had accepted the commissioner's terms, which imposed the covenant on himself and the entire Scottish nation, and stipulated that all civil affairs should be determined by the parliament. Soon afterwards he embarked at Terheyden in a frigate commanded by young Van Tromp, and provided, together with two other men-of-war, by the Prince of Orange. The prince's applications to Spain and other powers had proved in vain; some moneys raised in Poland and Muscovy seem to have come too late (, v. 405 seq. vi. 569–70:, iii. 116, 179).

After a tempestuous voyage of twenty-two days, an attempt to intercept him having failed, Charles arrived in the frith of Cromarty 16 June (, Chronicle, 268 ; Cal. 1650, 188). For three days he stayed in the bay of Gicht, in a house belonging to the Marquis of Huntly, but garrisoned by Argyll, who was in fact as well as in name 'president of the committee for ordering his majesty's journey and gists' (ib. 234; for his itinerary, see ib. 265-9). On the ninth day he reached 'his own house' of Falkland. Here or hereabouts he delayed for some weeks, as there were divided counsels at Edinburgh, and he still hesitated about his position (, iii. 210). No sooner had he arrived in Scotland than the parliament, with which Argyll was all-powerful, bade him dismiss Hamilton and Lauderdale. Buckingham, on the other hand, notwithstanding his scandalous life, was allowed to remain about the king. During the first part of Charles's stay in Scotland he heard many prayers and sermons, 'some of great length, and underwent severe rebukes for the meagre gaieties he permitted at his court. The former friends of the royal cause were carefully kept at a distance; even the loyalty of the common people was warned off. In the words of Hobbes (Behemoth, pt. iv.), 'the sum of all is, the prince was then a prisoner.' It was these things which made Charles afterwards assure Lauderdale that 'presbytery was not a religion for gentlemen;' but he understood the situation, paid attention to Argyll, and,